advice on hardware choice

[Jared Hodge]

What type of interconnect are the nodes going to use?  If it's myrinet,
then the 64-bit PCI slots on the Asus board could make a big
difference.  We've got Myrinet with 32-bit PCI slots, and we're only
getting about half the theoretical bandwidth (80 MBytes/s), or two
thirds of what we estimate is possible with 64-bit PCI (120-130
MBytes/s).  I believe this is the same chipset as the supermicro boards
(370dle and 370dl3) that Myrinet is recommending right now, but I don't
think they have tested this specific board.  I've E-mailed Myrinet and
asked them to check.  

Jared

Giovanni Scalmani wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
>   I would like to ear from you about which motherboard to select
> for a dual PIII > 700MHz node for a small (8 nodes) beowulf. The
> options I've been given are:
> 
>   ASUS CUR-DLS  (www.asus.com.tw)
>   133MHz FSB
>   Serverworks ServerSet III LE chipset
>   on board U2 SCSI
>   expensive
> 
>   or
> 
>   MSI 694D Pro (www.msi.com.tw)
>   133MHz FSB
>   VIA(R) 694XDP / VT82C686A chipset
>   U-DMA 100
>   less expensive
> 
>   My concern is basically about the state of linux 2.2 vs 2.4 with
> respect to the Serverworks and VIA chipsets and with respect to
> U-DMA100 also.
> 
>   Any experiences with these motherboards / chipsets?
>   Any alternative I forgot ?
>   Any experiences with U-DMA 100 vs U2 SCSI ?
> 
>   Thank you very much for your help!
> 
>   Regards,
>   Giovanni
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Giovanni Scalmani                         Giovanni at lsdm.dichi.unina.it
> L.S.D.M. - Laboratorio di Struttura e Dinamica Molecolare
>            Molecular Structure and Dynamics Group
> Dipartimento di Chimica / Chemistry Department
> Universita' di Napoli "Federico II"
> Complesso Universitario di Monte S.Angelo        Phone: +39 081 674205
> Via Cintia - I-80126 Napoli (Italy)                Fax: +39 081 674199
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Beowulf mailing list
> Beowulf at beowulf.org
> http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf